Ring of Fire: The Best of June Carter Cash (Dualtone, 2005)

Misleadingly subtitled as a �Best of� collection, �Ring of Fire� is more of a folk music statement. Using minimal instrumentation colored by nostalgic zither strums, Ms. Cash triumphs with old-fashioned ballads essaying romantic sorrow and death � la �Will You Miss Me When I�m Gone,� �Don�t Forget This Song� and the Carter Family classic �Will the Circle Be Unbroken.� Two of Carter Cash�s best-known Columbia-era collaborations with her husband (�If I Were a Carpenter,� �Jackson�) remind the listener of how vibrant the duo was during their late �60�s hey day. The rest was recorded under a variety of circumstances from 1998 to 2003.

The finest moment is the bone-chilling cheating husband/plotting wife scenario offered on the previously unreleased recitation �The Heel.� Once an aspiring actress, Carter Cash milks her quavering, aged voice for all the disgust and venom she can muster before wallowing in her character�s self-recriminations. As with most of the songs collected here, it provides a potent example of the heart and drama missing in today�s country music.